Thursday, August 29, 2024

End of Garden Goodness

John has been saying the garden is dwindling down for the past month, but last week all we picked were three miniature cucumbers, four tiny zucchini, a small bowlful of cherry tomatoes, and a few meals worth of string beans. John ate the string beans and I had the cucumbers, but I wasn't sure what to do with the cherry tomatoes and the zucchini. Then I came upon this recipe. I had most of the ingredients, and I'm always a fan of a one-pan meal, so I gave it a try.


This combination of Boursin, chicken stock, tomatoes, and orzo looks fairly unappetizing, but after 35 minutes in the oven, the addition of some shrimp, and some stirring, it turns into this:



I thought it was delicious, the kind of thing that I could eat way too much of because it's so good. I didn't have any spinach and was too lazy to go to the grocery store for just one thing, but it tastes great without spinach and is probably even better with it. John thought it had too much garlic, but Ryan says that's because he's afraid of too much flavor. 

And it's not all semi-healthy cooking with vegetables around here. The four little zucchini provided enough grated zucchini for a lovely cake.

I used this recipe for the cake and frosted it with a half batch of this cream cheese icing. I like it because it's not overly sweet. A zucchini cake was the perfect way to celebrate a season of making too many quarts of pickles, tomato sauce, and freezing and blanching loads of peas and beans. (Of course, I'll eat cake anytime!)


I hope you get to enjoy some delicious cake this week!


14 comments:

  1. Oh YUM!! I LOVE Boursin and I love shrimp, so this recipe sounds like a winner to me. And cake - perfect!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh yum indeed, Bonny! That does look like a winner! Thanks for sharing! (and your cake looks so good!)

    ReplyDelete
  3. It's that time of the year, Bonny. Sad that the garden is finished, but glad the "putting up" is over. I hope you had a good harvest this year. The farmers in my neck of the woods have been struggling with dry weather. One pot meals are always such a relief. Looks good!

    ReplyDelete
  4. YUM!!! We haven't harvested a zucchini in a couple of weeks! Crazy. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  5. That all looks absolutely delicious!!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Go you for finding a creative and delicious way to use those tomatoes! That sounds really good and I'd like a piece of zucchini cake right now ThankYouVeryMuch.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I love watching folks make those one pan dinners on TikTok. Right now I'm all about the viral cucumber salad trend. I just wish I had a cucumber.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Me, too! Our cucumbers got some sort of fungus and quit producing.

      Delete
  8. wow, that all looks delicious! I haven't turned the oven on this week, but I hope to next week. I have everything for that one-pan meal except the cheese (and a grocery trip planned for tomorrow) ... thank you for the recipes!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Silly me, I've been putting my tons of cherry tomatoes in salads when I could be making this kind of deliciousness! I laughed at Ryan's comment about John's taste! I have not been inundated with zucchini, sadly, but I will always take the opportunity to make zucchini bread (which I totally count as a vegetable, by the way, even if it also has chocolate chips or a sweet icing).

    ReplyDelete
  10. and now I am hungry!! We have some zucchinis from my sister that have to be eaten and I might make some zucchini bread....maybe.

    ReplyDelete
  11. It seems like fall is coming on early. Our walnut tree is almost all yellow.

    The recipes both sound delicious. Now I'm craving some zucchini bread. LOL

    ReplyDelete
  12. I made a similar thing last week using a block of feta, 2 pints cherry tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, and salt and pepper. When the cheese is melted, smoosh it all together and add 10 oz cooked pasta. It was delicious! I found out later this recipe went viral on Tik Tok back in 2018? 2021? but I found it in the NYT. Definitely a keeper!

    ReplyDelete
  13. That cake looks delicious. All of the cherry tomatoes - goodness. All of your peas and beans will be so nice come fall and winter. I may make some kind of cake this weekend as Monday is my birthday. So yes, I hope to have cake this weekend.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for visiting and taking the time to comment! :-)